In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 21, 2010
House Meets At... 1:00 p.m.: Legislative Business
First Vote Predicted... 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Last Vote Predicted... Evening
***Members are advised that votes are expected as early as 1:00 p.m.
“One Minutes” (5 per side)
Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments toH.R. 3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – and H.R. 4872 - Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Reps. Spratt/Waxman/Levin/George Miller – Budget/Energy and Commerce/Ways and Means/Education and Labor) (Subject to a Rule)
Postponed Suspension Votes (7 Bills):
- H.R. 4840 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1979 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, as the "Clarence D. Lumpkin Post Office" (Rep. Tiberi - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Res. 1174 - Supporting the goals and ideals of National Women's History Month (Rep. Woolsey - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Res. 1075 - Commending the members of the Agri-business Development Teams of the National Guard for their efforts, together with personnel of the Department of Agriculture and the United States Agency for International Development, to modernize agriculture practices and increase food production in war-torn countries (Rep. Luetkemeyer - Armed Services)
- H.Res. 1099 - Recognizing the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima (Rep. Braley - Armed Services)
- H.Res. 925 - Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the meritorious service performed by aviators in the United States Armed Forces who were shot down over, or otherwise forced to land in, hostile territory yet evaded enemy capture or were captured but subsequently escaped (Rep. DeFazio - Armed Services)
- H.Res. 900 - Supporting the goals and ideals of a Cold War Veterans Recognition Day to honor the sacrifices and contributions made by members of the Armed Forces during the Cold War and encouraging the people of the United States to participate in local and national activities honoring the sacrifices and contributions of those individuals (Rep. Israel - Armed Services)
- H.Res. 1119 - Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that all people in the United States should participate in a moment of silence to reflect upon the service and sacrifice of members of the United States Armed Forces both at home and abroad (Rep. Peters - Armed Services)
- Conference Reports may be brought up at any time.
Motions to go to Conference should they become available.
Possible Motions to Instruct Conferees.
The Senate is not in session today.
Well, this is it. The day you've all been waiting for. The day the House finally passes the above-listed seven suspension bills!
Yes, today is the day that the postal facility located at 1979 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, is finally designated as the "Clarence D. Lumpkin Post Office!"
Also, it turns out, the House will be taking care of its end of the business on the health insurance reform legislation, first by concurring in the Senate amendments to H.R. 3590, which has become known as "the Senate bill," and then by passing H.R. 4872, the reconciliation bill.
Although they've dropped the procedure that produced all the fake outrage about "deeming" the Senate bill passed, they're still using routine procedural shortcuts that are equivalent to deeming, but which are so routine that nobody even realizes it any more. The House will "pass the Senate bill" not by taking up consideration of its full text as amended by the Senate, but by voting on a procedural motion to agree to the Senate's amendment to the bill. That has the effect of registering the House's agreement to the exact same text as the Senate approved, but it's not quite the same thing as taking up and passing the entirety of the bill, similar to what I mentioned that the Senate was doing the other day. (For even more on deeming, click here.) In addition, the once the rule is adopted, the House will be deemed to have accepted the manager's amendment, which substitutes the new, targeted "fix" text of the reconciliation bill for the old, October 2009 version of the bill that had the whole health care plan in it. No, the House won't actually vote by itself to do that, but it'll still be considered as having been done once the rule is adopted. Why? Deeming. There's no denying it. But no one will say a word, because deeming just isn't the bogeyman Republicans say it is (or that wobbly Dems became afraid it was).
Lookee here:
Sec. 3. If the motion specified in section 2 is adopted, it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 4872) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2010 if called up by the Majority Leader or his designee. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause 10 of rule XXI. The amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part A of the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, modified by the amendment printed in part B of the report of the Committee on Rules, shall be considered as adopted.
Adopted? No, "considered as adopted."
Help! Socialismz!
The Rules Committee has taken some additional precautions to make sure things go as smoothly as possible, waiving (almost) all points of order against the reconciliation bill (except PAYGO), dispensing with the reading of the bill and the previous question motion, etc., all of which are in fact rather routine these days. This time, they've tacked on some additional safeguards:
Sec. 4. Until completion of proceedings enabled by the first three sections of this resolution --
(a) the Chair may decline to entertain any intervening motion (except as expressly provided herein), resolution, question, or notice;
(b) the Chair may decline to entertain the question of consideration;
(c) the Chair may postpone such proceedings to such time as may be designated by the Speaker;
(d) the second sentence of clause 1(a) of rule XIX shall not apply; and
(e) any proposition admissible under the first three sections of this resolution shall be considered as read.
Basically, that keeps things moving along without having to stop for desperation-level obstructionism. Endless and repetitive "parliamentary inquiries," for instance. Objections on whatever grounds to the propriety of even taking up the bill, etc. It also gives the leadership the opportunity to postpone proceedings if something goes awry, whether with the vote count or anything else. Belt and suspenders stuff, really. The House is a majoritarian institution, and the side with the most votes gets to do pretty much whatever it wants. Even so, the Republicans will get one last shot at standing in the way of history, with their motion to recommit.
So, that's pretty much it for the day. There may be a little craziness, maybe some theatrics, but if all goes as expected, it should be a close vote, but a relatively routine day. Except that you'll hear some cheering, booing, shouting and what have you over your C-SPAN feed around the time the voting ends. Open Congress has a nice play-by-play guide to what votes are expected to come up and what they're about, if you'd like to follow along.
Then next week, the Senate goes crazy.